Philo of Alexandria
Also known as Philo Judaeus
20 BCE–50 CE · Zugot · Alexandria
Philo of Alexandria (c. 20 BCE–c. 50 CE) was the foremost Hellenistic Jewish philosopher, who sought to harmonize the Torah with Greek (especially Platonic) thought through allegorical interpretation. Living in Alexandria's great Jewish community, he led its delegation to the emperor Caligula in 40 CE. His voluminous Greek writings shaped later Christian theology, though they left little trace in rabbinic literature.
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AlexandriaEgypt
What they did here
Lived and wrote in Alexandria, the largest Jewish community of the Greco-Roman world, producing his allegorical commentaries on the Torah.
About Alexandria
Alexandria (al-Iskandariyya) is the great Mediterranean port-city of northern Egypt, founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BCE and a leading centre of learning in antiquity. After the Muslim conquest of Egypt (642) it remained a major commercial and scholarly hub; the Shadhili Sufi Ibn Ata Allah al-Iskandari (d. 1309) took his nisba from the city, and the modernist reformer Muhammad Abduh (d. 1905) was active in Egypt's intellectual life there and in Cairo.
Across the traditions, in Alexandria at the same time
In the same place & time
Sages whose lives overlapped with Philo of Alexandria’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
Across the traditions
- Aenesidemus· Alexandria
- Didymus Alexandrinus· Alexandria
- Strabo· Alexandria
- Aristonicus of Alexandria· Alexandria
- Celsus· Rome
- Valerius Maximus· Rome
- Phaedrus· Rome
- Seneca, Lucius Annaeus· Rome
- Columella, Lucius Junius Moderatus· Rome
- Curtius Rufus, Quintus· Rome
- Aelius Theon· Alexandria
- Pliny, the Elder· Rome
- Silius Italicus, Tiberius Catius· Rome
- Petronius Arbiter· Rome
- Hero of Alexandria· Alexandria
- Musonius Rufus· Rome
- Persius· Rome
- Quintilian· Rome
In the same tradition
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with Philo of Alexandria’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Jewish world
- Hillel the Elder· 110 BCE–10 CE
- Herod the Great· 73 BCE–4 BCE
- Bava ben Buta· 60 BCE–10 CE
- Yonatan ben Uziel (greatest disciple of Hillel)· 50 BCE–50 CE
- Shammai the Elder· 50 BCE–30 CE
- Akavya ben Mahalalel· 30 BCE–70 CE
- Shimon ben Hillel (Hillel's son and successor)· 25 BCE–30 CE
- Rabban Gamliel the Elder (Gamliel I)· 20 BCE–52 CE
- Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas· 1 CE–110 CE
- Shimon ben Gamliel I· 10 CE–70 CE
- Berenice· 28 CE–85 CE
- Yochanan ben Zakkai· 30 CE–90 CE
- Yose HaKohen· 30 CE–100 CE
- Shimon ben Netanel· 30 CE–100 CE
- Nechunya ben HaKaneh· 30 CE–100 CE
- Chanina ben Dosa· 30 CE–100 CE
- Shmuel HaKatan· 30 CE–110 CE
- Onkelos· 35 CE–120 CE
- Josephus· 37 CE–100 CE
- Eleazar ben Arach· 40 CE–110 CE
- Eliezer ben Hyrcanus (Eliezer HaGadol)· 40 CE–120 CE
- Yehoshua ben Chananya· 40 CE–131 CE
- Rabban Gamliel II of Yavneh· 50 CE–117 CE
- Yehoshua ben Gamla· –68 CE
Christian world
Graeco-Roman world
Scientists
Works
No works attributed in the corpus yet.